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92. Detroit Historical Museum – December 27, 2014 – Detroit, MI

Shown here is a corner of the 1870s reproduction of Sanders Confectionary, where its beloved hot-fudge sundae only cost 10 cents!

I didn’t even know the Detroit Historical Museum existed until some time in the recent past. Why in the heck did I never go on any school field trips there? My elementary school took us to the Science Center about a jillion times . . .. I know astronaut ice cream is awesome and everything – I’m just suggesting it might lose a little of its luster after a kid’s third visit in about as many years.

The Detroit Historical Museum is definitely worth at least one visit. What a great place for a family trip – it’s fun and educational and FREE admission. (How often is stuff to do with kids free?) And while I’m only a gradeschooler at heart these days, I still found it absorbing enough to spend almost two-and-a-half hours following the history of the D through its journey from a French trading post to a majorly populated American manufacturing hub to a city gravely wounded by racial tensions, crime, and blight to, finally, a survivor-town invigorated by ingenuity, resourcefulness, and reinvention. This story is illustrated by several floors of displays, including the Streets of Old Detroit exhibit, where visitors can walk into and explore reproductions of mid-19th- and early-20th-century city businesses, and the Allesee Gallery of Culture, which thoroughly explores Detroit’s 20th-century rise and fall and rise again through a myriad of artifacts, from a bronzed Joe Louis glove to a Bob Seger guitar. I experienced numerous teary surges of civic pride as I explored the rich history and was reminded how great this area really is.